Scottish Film & TV Industries Consultation
Accessing the skills and attributes of today’s graduates
This research project investigates the ways in which critical, ethical and creative thinking is valued, embraced and applied in the Scottish film and television industries through the skills and attributes of graduates. Within a context of real-world demands for a skilled screen sector workforce, this research explores the mutual benefits of collaboration between industry and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to jointly address the challenges of recruitment and retention, and related issues of access and inclusion.
Over a series of workshops consulting with Industry, graduates of Film and Television Studies and HEIs, it has opened a space for preliminary research on the alignment of the skills and professional qualities that the industry requires with graduate attributes and skills that research-led Universities offer. In doing so, this project looks for ways to better support graduates entering the screen industries in order to prepare them for employment, to empower them as citizens, to be ambassadors for higher education and to help shape the future of Scottish film and television.
Project Aims
- To understand the needs of Scotland’s screen industries, identify skills gaps and articulate attributes required for entry into the sector
- To understand alumni experiences of entering the screen industries, identify skills gaps and articulate attributes gained during their degree
- To develop a critically informed skills development framework that accommodates and applies this real-world research
- To foster mutual understanding and strengthened partnerships between the screen industries and HEIs to establish change in both sectors.
Findings and Creative Response
Be resilient…but be adaptable:
‘resilience has not lost its popular appeal as the anchoring idea of a powerful story in which moralism and hope combine to produce a successful outcome.’
Susie O’Brien (2017) Resilience Stories: Narratives of Adaptation, Refusal, and Compromise. Resilience: A Journal of the Environmental Humanities, 4(2–3), 43–65.
Be strong…but be kind:
‘to embrace vulnerability and turn it into courage.’
Bell Hooks (2000), Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics, London: Pluto Press.
Be passionate…but know your worth:
‘Passion in neoliberal society makes up for the lack of security and operates as a means of production where workers are programmed to be enthusiastic and uncomplaining.’
Kiriakos, C. M., & Tienari, J. (2018) Academic writing as love. Management Learning, 49 (3), 263-277.
Project Team
- Professor Amy Holdsworth
- Dr Kay Dickinson
- Dr Abigail Jenkins
- Dr Lisa Kelly
- Dr Inge Sorenson
- Kathryn Willens (Partnerships Manager)
- Sophie Minervini (Partnerships Administrator)
